“Rush” brings Wilmington’s Brett Lunger back in time

Above: Wilmington’s Brett Lunger discusses the new Ron Howard film, “Rush,” in which he appears in historical footage. The movie follows the 1976 Formula One season and the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

Wilmington’s Brett Lunger is in the middle of the most pivotal crash scene in “Rush,” director Ron Howard’s new biographical race car film.

The crash, vividly re-created with the aid of original footage from the accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix, finds former Formula One driver Lunger straddling the top of competitor Niki Lauda’s flame-engulfed car.

With temperatures reaching 800 degrees, Lunger helps save Lauda’s life by pulling the racer out of the fiery car after another driver unbuckles Lauda’s seatbelts.

The film, set to be released Sept. 27, focuses on the rivalry between Austrian-born Lauda, played by Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds”), and British driver James Hunt, depicted by Chis Helmsworth (“Thor”).

The pair had been in the midst of a tight race — only points away from each other — for the 1976 Word Championship. The season’s winner would be determined at the final race of the year in Fuji, Japan — nearly three months after the accident.

Although the accident left him in a coma with severe burns, Lauda recovered and returned to racing six weeks later. He competed in the final four races of the season starting with Italian Grand Prix.

“Rush” pairs heart-pounding race action with a human interest story of two contrasting personalities — Hunt is an outgoing playboy and Lauda a reserved technician.

For Lunger, a screening of the film earlier this month is like being transported back to his racing days 37 years ago.

The 67-year-old has pretty much left the sport after ending his three-year Formula One racing career in 1978.

He was in it purely for the competition, he says, and not for the lifestyle.

“To be honest with you, [the film] hit me more than I thought it would. It had an emotional impact on me. When you finish something and start a different life, you put all those things aside,” says Lunger, a member of the du Pont family who now spends his time flying a Cessna Citation Mustang and writing books about personal responsibility.

“And going back and seeing the event again and that season, yeah, it gave me goosebumps.”

Overall, “Rush” paints an accurate picture of that year in the sport, focusing on the intense, but respectful, rivalry between the two top drivers, Lungar says.

Scenes that depict Lord Hesketh, owner of the Hesketh Racing in the ‘70s, and others imbibing champagne and eating caviar at the racetrack really happened, he says.

“The few races I did with Hesketh, they probably spent more money on champagne than I spent on engines,” Lunger jokes. “It was a circus.”

While the lavish party scene surrounding Formula One certainly existed at the time, Lunger says he avoided most of it. (Although he does say he had one memorable day in Brazil, drinking champagne and eating lobster on a yacht before ending up at a party at night attended by stars like Rod Stewart.)

One scene in the film where Hunt is shown smoking marijuana and drinking champagne just before getting into his car to race was one of the few Hollywood dramatizations says Lunger.

“No driver, not even James Hunt, would do that,” he says.

Hunt died in 1993 from a heart attack. The still-scarred Lauda, now 64, works as a Grand Prix commentator for German television.

The wreck at the centerpiece of the film shows it as it happened: Lauda lost control of his Ferrari, hit an embankment and came to rest in the middle of the racetrack. The car burst into flames.

Lunger, driving his Surtees-Ford car, came around turn at 140 m.p.h. and hit Lauda, not seeing him there until it was too late.

“I pulled him out and we sort of tumbled off the side of the car,” says Lunger, who had been in high-pressure situations before, especially during his time in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War.

“There was nothing cognitive about what I did. There was a situation and a reaction. That’s all it was.”

Lunger says he first saw Lauda after the fiery German wreck at the Italian Grand Prix a month and a half later. Lauda, bandaged from burns, walked up to him in the pit, stuck out his hand for a handshake and said “thank you.”

He then turned and walked away.

“That is Niki Lauda. It was perfect. Nothing more was required,” says Lunger.

He last saw Lauda in Austin, Tex., in November 2012 at the debut of the Austin Grand Prix. “There is a sense of brotherhood because you are all at the top of your sport and there are only like 26 other people in the world who can do what you’re doing. That makes every one of your fellow competitors kind of special.”

Before the 1976 German Grand Prix, Lauda had complained the rainy conditions made the race too unsafe in an era prior to the safety measures that have been added to the sport.

A vote among the drivers was held and Lauda lost. Lunger, who was 30 at the time, and Hunt had both voted for the race to go on.

Lunger was determined to race for another reason: he had received the news that his father, Harry, had died the day before. “I had already made the emotional decision that I wanted to race. I thought that he would have wanted me to,” he says. (Lunger’s mother, Jane du Pont Lunger, passed away in 2001.)

Lunger’s original car from the 1976 German Grand Prix, which had been sold and restored, was used in the film after Howard discovered it was still being used in historic races. Aside from the historical footage of the crash and rescue, Lunger is depicted in other scenes by Robert Christopher Austin, the son of the owner of Lunger’s car that was used in the film.

Lunger says he thinks the film could spark additional interest in Formula One racing, which has produced promotional videos to capitalize on the film’s exposure, one of which was shown before a preview screening in Philadelphia earlier this week.

“Ron Howard did a superb job of putting together the motor racing side with the human interest side and that’s what is going to get the non-enthusiasts in,” he says.

“Maybe some young kid is going to go to that film and say, ‘I want to become world champion’ and someday we’ll have another world champion from this country. Mario Andretti was the last [in 1978.] I’d like to see another American world champion.”

About Ryan Cormier

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